


Coworkers

by Seigetsu_Ren



Series: Character Development for Lisa [2]
Category: BanG Dream! Girl's Band Party! (Video Game)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Office, F/F, Gen, Light-Hearted, brief romantic yukisayo, lisa rethinks her life...sort of, strictly PLATONIC yukilisa, yukina and lisa meet as coworkers
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-01
Updated: 2020-07-01
Packaged: 2021-03-04 23:54:31
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,447
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25015030
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seigetsu_Ren/pseuds/Seigetsu_Ren
Summary: Lisa has always prided herself on being understanding. But when she starts working in the marketing department of a biotech company, she finds out that there are people whom even she can't understand.
Relationships: Hikawa Sayo/Minato Yukina, Imai Lisa & Minato Yukina
Series: Character Development for Lisa [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1841107
Comments: 23
Kudos: 37





	Coworkers

**Author's Note:**

> This is NOT a romantic YukiLisa story. You have been warned. There is a scene with romantic YukiSayo towards the end, but it's not the focus.  
> I have a lot of mixed feelings for Lisa's canon character, especially with regards to her interactions with Yukina, so I tried to process my thoughts here. I would've liked to write a more realistic story based on this idea, but I'm too lazy to dive into plot conflicts in a short one-shot, so be aware that things here would also resolve far too easily, and everything is still presented in a mostly humorous light.

Even Imai Lisa would not remember the first time she had seen Dr. Minato Yukina of the R&D Department – more than 300 employees worked in this branch office alone, a small fraction of the 70,000 employees their multinational biotech company hired worldwide. The first time she took notice of Dr. Minato was not an experience she wanted to recall. She was nearing the end of her probation period and was asked to give a presentation on the marketing strategies for one of their products that was set to launch in Japan within the year, having already been available in a few other countries their company served. Unlike the usual group meetings, it was more nerve-wracking, being held in one of the larger boardrooms with the attendance of multiple departments. It wasn’t that Lisa was afraid of speaking to a large audience, but she was a marketing major with little experience on the technical side of the products she was made to sell. She tried to do her homework, but compared to R&D scientists who developed and used the products everyday, she might as well be a toddler in a university seminar. Nobody could fault her for feeling uncomfortable with the prospect of being asked a tough question from that crowd.

She was just talking about how the translated product information sheet was longer than the original English text, thus had to include an extra page, when Dr. Minato retorted without even raising her hand.

“How would that fit inside the kit?”

“I’m sorry…I don’t think I understand…”

“The kit. The combination of reagents for performing that procedure. It is contained in a paper box.” Upon seeing Lisa’s confused expression, Dr. Minato furrowed her brows. “Forget it. Give me a minute.”

With that, Dr. Minato stood up and left the room, banging the door behind her. Lisa just stood there on the lectern, frozen to her spot. Should she wait for Dr. Minato? Or continue with her slides? Nobody seemed to be paying attention to her anymore, the room buzzling with quiet conversation. She ended up staying silent for a long minute before the door flung open again.

Dr. Minato walked up to the lectern and quite forcefully slapped the paper box containing said test kit onto the wooden surface in front of Lisa.

“This is the kit. Tell me, where would that extra page fit inside the box?”

The box was mildly bulging. Lisa opened it to see that four tubes were fitted into holes punched in a paper insert. There was no more room for the fifth tube, which instead was shoved horizontally above the other four. The existing English product information sheet was tightly folded and rested still atop that. No wonder the lid barely closed.

“I do not immediately have an answer to your question, but I shall consult my colleagues on a solution.” – was the only reply Lisa could make.

“I would think that is a higher priority than figuring out the colour scheme for the product information sheet.”

With that one last scathing remark, Dr. Minato finally sat back down with crossed arms.

After the meeting, a woman with shoulder-length grey hair who Lisa might’ve caught sleeping throughout parts of her presentation, came up to pat Lisa on the back.

“Cheer up, Newbie.” She spoke her words slowly, as though too lazy to quicken the pace.

Lisa looked at the woman’s badge. Aoba Moca – Quality Assurance. The woman gave a wide smile. “Minato-san is always like that. Don’t take it too personally.”

She figured, seeing as Lisa’s own boss had given her a “good job” before heading out the boardroom. Still, Aoba-san’s words reassured Lisa that she hadn’t at some point accidentally angered this Dr. Minato whose office was two floors down from her own. She decided to thank Aoba-san by buying some pastries from the local bakery to share with the Quality Assurance department the next day. They loved it. In particular Aoba-san, who quickly became “Moca-chan”. They were buddy buddies by the end of the day.

Therefore, it wasn’t strange for Lisa to have chanced upon an…incident at the Quality Assurance department some months later when she was there to retrieve her lunch pal. Dr. Minato wasn’t nearly as friendly a visitor as Lisa herself. She wasn’t shouting or anything. But you wouldn’t call the conversation she was having with one QA manager, Mitake Ran, anything friendly.

“I gave you the data three weeks ago, Mitake-san. When is this analysis expected to be completed?”

“I don’t think I’ve seen your email from three weeks ago, Minato-san. Projects are prioritized by the date their request form was sent, and you only sent one three days ago. It would be unfair to others if I were to complete your analysis first.”

“The data file from three weeks ago contained the request form. That is how it has always been done.”

“And that is not how it is done now. The edit was made on the policy document you signed off last month.”

To be fair, that policy document was three hundred pages long, and the edits alone that everybody signed off on were twenty pages. Even Dr. Minato, the perfectionist, could hardly remember every single detail from the document. Clearly, Ran was messing with her.

“Umm…if I may interrupt.” Lisa spoke up, causing both women to glare at her. Honestly, those two were such…characters. But somehow, Lisa found no comfort seeing the two problem-makers tear each other down. She just couldn’t stand that hostility. “I can see where you are coming from, Ran, but I think it’s understandable that we haven’t quite gotten used to the new policy yet, right? And Minato-san has sent you the request form as a separate document retroactively, so the problem is solved. I’m involved in that project too, if all goes well it’s supposed to launch before that big conference in August. If the product gets QA’ed sooner and it can go into mass production, we can use the conference for our launch campaign…so, pretty please?”

Ran frowned. “This isn’t how it’s supposed to work…” Faced with Lisa’s begging eyes, her frown finally relaxed and she sighed. “I’m not doing this as a favour to you, Imai-san, but now that I understand the situation, I can try to re-prioritize the project. There is a policy for that, but it’s supposed to be used only when absolutely necessary. You should be more careful with adhering to the guidelines next time, Minato-san.”

Dr. Minato stayed still and said nothing. Lisa stared at her expectantly, catching the latter’s attention. Dr. Minato might’ve clenched her teeth together, her expression stiffened with unwillingness. After a suffocating minute, she finally parted her lips and let two words out.

“Thank you.”

Outside the QA office, Lisa caught up with Dr. Minato’s escaping steps. “You know,” she rambled on without Dr. Minato’s acknowledgement, “If you would say those two words more often, it might make your life a lot easier.”

Dr. Minato stopped in her steps. “You wish for me to thank you too?”

Lisa almost snorted. “That’s not what I meant! It’s a friendly suggestion. People like hearing polite requests rather than demands.”

After another wordless moment, Dr. Minato spoke, “I will think about your suggestion. You have my gratitude.”

Lisa would soon learn that she had done a good deed, not only for Dr. Minato, but also for Dr. Minato’s subordinates. Udagawa Ako was a research technician in Dr. Minato’s team who Lisa had gotten to know through their Workplace Social Committee. Before, Ako was complaining every few days about Dr. Minato’s strictness. “I was playing Neo Fantasy Mobile Online the other day after I had finished my tasks, and Yukina-san got so mad! Said I should be preparing for tomorrow’s experiment. I was just taking a five-minute break…Come on, we’re in an intellectual field. Our brains need some breathing time.” Now, Ako was coming up to Lisa with bewildered expressions instead. “Would you believe it? Yukina-san said thank you to me! Thank you! It’s her latest catchphrase. You have no idea how scary it is when she thanks you for screwing up an experiment. My gosh, I thought I was about to be burned alive by the Great Dragon…err…what’s his name?”

Thinking Dr. Minato had mellowed out, Lisa decided to try and invite her to their social events – after all, that was her task at their Workplace Social Committee, and Lisa was always open to making more friends. However, Dr. Minato did not seem to appreciate her efforts.

“Hey Yukina.”

Dr. Minato…err…Yukina might’ve furrowed her brows in scrutiny. “What do you want?”

“You haven’t RSVP’ed for the Korean BBQ party next week.”

“Why should I? I’m not going.”

“Eh? Don’t you think it’d be fun?”

“No.”

**Another attempt.**

“Almost everybody would be on the cruise. The company is paying for it! What better reason do you need for a night of fun and a gourmet dinner?”

“I am no longer a broke student. I can afford my own meals, thank you.”

**And another attempt.**

“It is an annual Christmas dinner. Just…why are you so insistent on not showing up to these events?”

“Do I need a reason?”

“Well…no. But…you sure you don’t want to come?”

“I am sure. Thank you.”

“Absolutely certain?”

“Yes, I am absolutely certain. Thank you for asking again.”

“They have an all-you-can-eat ice-cream bar there!”

Yukina heaved a really long sigh. “I am quite busy. I must thank you for asking a third time, but if you have no other business with me, may I please return to my work?”

In the Social Committee meeting room, Lisa slumped in her chair after yet another unsuccessful attempt at wooing Yukina into one of their company events. Moca, who was also on the committee, gave an amused grin.

“Lisa-chi got rejected again.”

“Moca, stop making it sound like I’m trying to date her. I’d rather date a robot.”

“Then why are you so adamant on getting her to come to those social events? You can just leave her alone.”

“But…I’d feel bad, you know? It’s like we’re making her an outcast.”

“I don’t think Yukina-san would mind though…” Ako spoke up. When Lisa turned to her, she immediately stiffened, continuing with uncertainty in her tone. “I know I can’t speak for her or anything, but like…I have a friend I met through an online game, and while she’s super eager on the in-game chat, she’s really shy in real life. I don’t think Yukina-san is shy, but like…maybe the same principle applies?”

“What Ako-chan is saying is that Minato-san probably just doesn’t enjoy hanging out with us.”

“Eh?” Lisa sat up with indignance, “What did we do wrong? Why doesn’t she like us?”

“Maybe we are just incompatible? That’s how some people are. Like our Ran-chan. She doesn’t really like people because she has this weird routine she likes to stick to, and she hates it when others disrupt it.”

“And it isn’t like Yukina-san is as blunt as before! She’s actually sorta nice now. Since she’s being considerate of us, maybe we should also be considerate of how she might want more personal space, especially outside of work…” Ako added.

Well, that was true. Just earlier in the week, an eerily familiar situation happened during another of Lisa’s inter-departmental presentations. She was introducing a marketing campaign for their new product, in which they would sell to leading researchers in the field at a discounted price in hopes that it would establish their product as a golden standard for this procedure. It was then that a hand shot up in the audience.

“Umm…yes? Yu…I mean, Dr. Minato?”

“Yukina is fine. If I may suggest, Lisa, you should contact Prof. Hasegawa from Bandori University instead of Prof. Ishimura. Ishimura’s group has declined in quality. Last time, they froze our product, and came complaining that it doesn’t work. They can’t follow basic instructions these days, so don’t expect them to publish anything impactful any time soon. Prof. Hasegawa is younger, but his group is far more motivated. They would make a better collaborator.”

Heads might’ve swiveled over to Yukina, who sat there unfazed by their curiosity. Did she really just say “may I suggest”??? This was Dr. Minato Yukina, the antisocial R&D principal scientist who was known throughout the entire building to have a tongue as venomous as an Asian giant hornet’s sting!

“I…err…” Lisa was at a temporary loss for words. “Thank you?”

“You are welcome.”

Recalling that meeting, Lisa reconsidered Ako’s words. Maybe she was right. Yukina tried to meet them halfway in their professional interactions, so it was only right for them to do the same. Lisa might’ve preferred to be great friends with everyone but expecting such familiarity even from those with more reserved personalities was a bit too pushy. She should be more respectful of others’ boundaries. Seems like not only Yukina had something to learn about interpersonal relationships, but Lisa too must keep polishing her skills.

And so, the day after, Lisa decided to go down to the R&D office to apologize to Yukina for how she had bugged the latter about the Christmas dinner this whole week. When she arrived in the evening, just before the end of work hours, she was shocked to see a new nameplate on the office that belonged to Yukina.

**Hikawa**

“Yukina, are you getting fired!?” Lisa burst in through the unlocked door. Yukina turned in her wheeled boss chair and looked at Lisa as though she was out of her mind.

“Are you trying to insinuate something?”

“Oh. So, you’re not getting fired. Thank goodness! But what’s with that nameplate? Who is Hikawa?”

“I am Hikawa. I got married.”

Yukina might’ve stated that as a matter of fact, but Lisa certainly didn’t think it was anything deducible by common sense. While Lisa’s brain struggled with comprehending the new information, Yukina stood and grabbed her jacket and bag to meet the person who had just appeared at the doorway behind Lisa. Lisa turned around, met with a tall woman with neat turquoise hair whose handsome image was immediately shattered by the stick of leek she held in one hand.

“Nice to meet you. I am Hikawa Sayo.”

“Err…hi!” It took Lisa two seconds to follow up on her own awkward greeting. “So, how did you two meet?”

“We play in the same rock band.”

“You play in a rock band!?!?”

There really was a lot for Lisa to learn about the complexities of life…


End file.
